Review: Virgin Slave, Barbarian King by Louise Allen

Title: Virgin Slave, Barbarian King
Author: Louise Allen
Genre: Historical romance
Grade: C+
Reason for Reading: There was a *lot* of discussion earlier this year about this article, in which Julie Bindel accuses the romance genre of perpetuating misogyny and the oppression of women. Then, the scholarly folks over at Teach Me Tonight decided they would host an Internet extravaganza in which people could provide their opinions on the book. So I figured I’d come late to the party and, um, try and get a bit of traffic over here by riding the reviewing coat tails, as it were. Also, the time frame looks interesting and it’s not a setting I know anything about, so, who knows, maybe I’ll learn something.

Synopsis: Julia Livia Rufa is horrified when barbarians invade Rome and steal everything in
sight. But she doesn’t expect to be among the taken! As Wulfric’s woman, she’s ordered
to keep house for the uncivilized marauders. Soon, though, Julia realizes that she’s
more free as a slave than she ever was as a sheltered Roman virgin. It would be all
too easy to succumb to Wulfric’s quiet strength, and Julia wants him more than she’s
ever wanted anything. But Wulfric could one day be king, and Julia is a Roman slave.
What future can there be for two people from such different worlds?

My Thoughts: I went into this book with no great expectations. The unusual setting intrigued me, and I like the idea of reading about two people from various different cultures learning to coexist. I wasn’t expecting a misogynist screed about a woman’s place being in the kitchen being barefoot and pregnant. I was simply hoping for a pleasant way to pass a couple of hours.

I wasn’t disappointed, although the book didn’t really grab me the way a good book will do. In fact, I was able to take notes as I read in preparation for this blog post, which isn’t something I generally do with a book that’s working for me.

The characters are standard romance novel fare. Julia is a feisty, well-bred woman with a touch of the Mary Sue who has never thought much about her slaves and how she’s treated them before Wulfric shows up. Despite never having cooked or cleaned before, she takes to it with remarkable alacrity considering her circumstances, and of course she comes to see the Visigoths as a far superior culture.

Wulfric is equally derivitive. He’s a leader of men who is nonetheless kind to children, women and puppies, and he has the world’s most intelligent wolf as a companion and pet. For all that, I was expecting him to be a bit more forceful and, well, alpha than he actually was. Normally I adore beta heroes, but in this case I found Wulfric’s gentle patience with Julia a bit hard to believe at times.

The chemistry between these two characters also wasn’t much to write home about. I don’t really require all my romances to be full of teh pr0n, but in this book the sex scenes have a blink and you miss them kind of vibe.

But the real disappointment for me was the setting. I really wanted to learn more about Rome and the Visigoths, and I felt that this rather colorful time period was rather underutilized. It’s obvious that Ms. Allen did some research, and while I didn’t really want pages and pages of it crammed down my throat, I’d have liked a bit more.

What did work for me were Julia’s interactions with the other characters, particularly Wulfric’s squire, and Una, one of the women in the Visigoth camp. I also liked that Julia began to discover her resourcefulness in the end, and she rescued herself from a couple of bad situations.

Overall, this was definitely no more and no less than what I’d been expecting. It’s a pleasant read, although sadly a forgetable one. I’m not sure I’m going to look up Ms. Allen’s backlist, but I certainly don’t regret my impulsive decision to read this book.